St. Amant standout outside hitter Toni Rodriguez points directions to her teammates Sept. 18 during the first set against Mount Carmel before tearing her ACL in the second. (Jerit Roser, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

St. Amant — Toni Rodriguez's healing process has been difficult — maybe even more so emotionally than physically.

Tennesee rescinded its scholarship offer to the standout St. Amant volleyball player two weeks after a torn ACL abruptly ended her senior season.

Rodriguez has slowly started finding ways to be as positive about those circumstances as she managed to keep her Gators during a frequently trying 2013 campaign of which her own injury was the most serious, but not the last.

Needless to say, her renewed optimism has been a work in progress.

"I think it made it harder for me," the outside hitter said. "I was already dealing with one thing, and that one thing wasn't over yet, then something more came on, and it was just really stressful. I didn't think it was that fair, but it wasn't my decision, so I kind of just went with the flow," she said. "It was upsetting, but I got over it, and I'm just cheering my team on now."

"We didn't try to hide anything for them," mother Lori Rodriguez said. "We turned over all her medical records and doctors and all of that, and he said after the trainers and doctors and seen it, they were going to have to release her.

"I really couldn't talk a whole lot at that point, but once I could, I questioned it and asked about redshirting her freshman year, and he said he had needed her to start right away."

Tennessee Coach Rob Patrick had initially told Toni and her family they had nothing of this kind about which to worry, Lori Rodriguez said.

But those circumstances clearly changed.

Toni was supposed to visit Tennessee this weekend to officially sign with the Volunteers.

Instead, Patrick called Lori on the Friday of St. Amant's homecoming weekend, and she and her husband, Kevin Rodriguez, opted to let Toni enjoy the weekend before breaking her the news that Sunday.

"We're definitely frustrated, without a doubt," Kevin Rodriguez said. "From a parent's point of view, it sucks, so to speak, especially to have to tell your 16-year old daughter her scholarship just got pulled. It was devastating to her. At the same time, I don't want to say anything bad about the man, because when get to the SEC level, and you're talking about scholarships, that's a business from their situation, and his decisions determine his job. If he makes a bad decision, he could lose his job.

"I feel he dangled a carrot in front of us, and I disagree with the decision, but I understand he was dealing with a lot of injuries already, and from what he'd told us, Toni was going to be the starter, and then when the injury happened, it changed his game plan. I understand the the decision, but it was hurtful, definitely to Toni, and also to her mom and myself."

Patrick and members of the Tennessee team later offered to talk to Toni, but she was still too upset at the time.

The coach at one point told the Rodriguezes he could send a copy of hours of impressive practice footage recorded of Toni during a visit to Tennessee to help her find another potential scholarship offer, the family said.

But weeks passed and calls were missed before Patrick responded to say he had been busy with travel and that his staff no longer had the video.

St. Amant Coach Allison Leake was among the first to find optimism in the unexpected and disappointing chain of events.

"I think it may be God's way of telling her she made the wrong decision," Leake said. "There have been people that have told me about his coaching style at Tennessee, but it was just stories, so you just never know … I wanted her to make the decision, and you're not only making a decision about your coach, you're making a decision about you academics as well, and coaches don't stay there all the time. Coaches come and go. So it's not something I would've talked to her about, but now with everything that has happened, I don't know if the coaching staff would've been a good fit for her. She's one that's very aggressive, and you can push her and make her mad, but there are breaking points with her.

"I just don't know that it would've been a good fit. Especially now with things that have happened, I've had a lot more people that have come to me and said, 'I didn't want to say anything, but I didn't think that it was going to be the right fit for her with the coaching staff,' and I guess it just kind of shows you with everything that has happened and what they've done in pulling the scholarship what kind of people they are, and I think that's part of it."

Toni kept her focus on her team, which continued to battle its way through injury-heavy adversity to the No. 5 seed in the Division I playoffs that started this week.

The senior leader has somewhat taken on the role of another assistant coach.

"On the court, I was always the leader," she said. "And they needed someone there, so I just felt like, 'I need to step up and be there still.'"

The 6-foot-2 athlete has excelled despite having played volleyball for only about three years.

But sitting out also allowed her to notice certain previously overlooked aspects of the game and learn about them from the sideline.

"She'll ask me stuff on the bench, and I'll ask her, 'You really don't know?'" Leake said. "I forget that she's only been playing three years. The things that she can do, you literally cannot teach them — the things that she can pick up so fast and just her abilities. You don't have a 6-2 kid that walks into your gym every day that as a freshman was coordinated and could pick things up in a way that you tell her one day, and then the next day she's able to do it.

"I've never seen a kid more born to play volleyball, and my dad's been coaching for 30 years at every level, and he's said the same thing. It's amazing. It's funny because all the things she doesn't know and as good as she is, wherever she goes, she'll just be able to keep improving, and they'll really be able to mold her."

All the more reason everyone around Toni remains so optimistic.

Many people have helped her regain positivity from her family, coaches and teammates to other members of the volleyball community.

Kevin Rodriguez thanked Mount Carmel trainer David Mocklin for helping Toni on the night of the injury, Cubs junior hitter Katie Kampen for checking on her after the match and many others associated with the team for their encouragement and gifts as the recovery process began.

Lori Rodriguez added that some advice and encouragement provided by LSU Coach Fran Flory, whose daughter Lindsay Flory plays at University Lab, also made a great deal of difference in Toni's improved mindset.

"I've just got to keep my head high — that's what they all tell me — and just believe that God has better things for you in the future," Toni said.

Now, she's just letting the options unfold so she can determine her next step.

Toni, whose rehab from the injury is ahead of schedule, hopes to be healthy for club season and potentially impress some college coaches with her play at that time and even asked doctors Wednesday if she might be able to start playing again soon.

The future may have changed unexpectedly this fall for Toni Rodriguez, but it remains bright.

"A lot of kids in high school, this is it for them," Leake said. "But I think that was kind of the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel is that she still has a lot of time left to play, so as upsetting as it is not to be able to see her in a St. Amant uniform in our gym anymore, it's not the last time that we'll get to see her play. I tell her hopefully she'll go play somewhere professionally really nice so I can go and visit."